Dying to live

ANDILE Tunzana has the blood of four Somalis on his hands and, as he sits in Mdantsane prison serving two life sentences, he is finally talking about why he killed.

Tunzana, 26, is doing hard time for a series of shootings and the deaths of Somali refugees around East London.

But since his conviction by the East London High Court in 2006 he has converted to Islam – the religion of his victims – and has adopted the name Ismael Junaid.

His conversion to Islam led him to agree to a series of jail interviews with the Daily Dispatch about why he killed.

In which he opened the door on why Somalis are being slaughtered.
“We knew they had a lot of money in their shops and had no guns to fight back. But we shot those who tried to resist and then looked for money. No one cared for them in the township because they are grigambas,� Tunzana said.

His story confirms how South African government policy predisposes these refugees from a war-torn land to again become victims in a country which they hoped would offer sanctuary. – and why Somalis are literally dying to live.

The Daily Dispatch has spent nearly four months inves tigating the killings of Somalis in our community, living . Our team spent weeks living with Somalis to understand the hatred directed at them; conducting hours of interviews with Tunzana; and speaking to police who investigated the cases, to witnesses to the crimes, survivors and independent experts.
We were also present when corrupt home affairs officials took bribes of hundreds of rands from refugees desperate to renew their permits.

The picture that has emerged is clear: Somalis become victims of crime in our community because of state policy which provides them with limited legal protection, does not allow them to live a normal life or have access to institutions like banks. They are left vulnerable to be preyed on by criminals and corrupt officials in communities that reject them.

At the time of the murders in 2005, Tunzana was on the run, having escaped from custody while awaiting trial on another murder charge, when His life of crime and prison continued as he escaped custody and went on the run until his re-arrest the day after he and his accomplices robbed and murdered Mohamed Nasier Omar and Mahamud Abdi Mo hammed at their spaza shop in Mzamo Street, Duncan Village, on July 5, 2005.

Earlier he had shot and wounded Mohammed Ismail in a thigh and Mashafa Muhammed in the jaw at their Mtendeni Street, Duncan Village, spaza shop as well as shooting and wounding Daniel Dala, a security guard at a Somali-owned shop in Lamont Street at CC Lloyd Township.

Tunzana admitted in his interviews with the Dispatch that the Somali spaza shops were easy targets – and because they were outsiders they were easy to select.

“We got information that the amagrigamba were not bank ing their money and instead were hiding it in their shops. They were easy to rob because they did not resist much and there was no one to protect them,� Tunzana recalled in the prison interviews.

He said they also planned their attacks around the Somalis’ prayer times as Muslims worship five times a day.

Tunzana said his gang knew that while other Somalis went to the mosque to pray there would be only one shopkeeper, which made their robberies easy.

“We knew they were the only ones who had a lot of money and were easy to rob in the township. I did not care much about robbing any other person who looks like me because I know that they might be struggling to survive. The Somalis were just other foreign people with money and no one cared about them,� Tunzana said.

He said on the day he and his group went on a rampage they had told themselves they were going to get rid of Somalis.

“Ta Ero (Eric Nanto- his accomplice) said let’s kill these things (Somalis) today and get rid of them. They come here to take our women and behave like this is their country,� said Tunzana.
The crimes were committed without mercy.

Buzani Nkunzana, an eyewitness to the robbery and shooting of Ismail and Muhammed, recalled the moment Tuzana and his three accomplices stormed the spaza on the afternoon of July 5, 2005.
Nkunzana, an electrician, was with Ismail and Mohammed in their bedroom trying to fix their VCR when they all heard a big bang.

“I got a shock when I heard people shouting and demanding money from the Somalis on the other side. I then saw the two Somalis walking backwards to the room and a person was pointing a gun at them,� Nkunzana said.

He watched as the Somalis were gunned down.

Nkunzana said the armed robber, who was joined by three others, fired a shot which hit Mohammed and he immediately fell to the floor. “I saw a spark coming from the gun while other shots were fired. I was really scared but they just ordered me to lie down,� Nkunzana said.

He believes that because of his lighter skin the robbers assumed he was not a foreigner which is why they decided not to shoot him.

“I just went on the floor next to one of the Somalis and there was just a pool of blood coming from him. I thought this must be my last day alive I was scared that I was going to die.�

Nkuzana said as he walked out of the house there were people scattered outside in the street and some were screaming while Tunzana and his gang strolled down the road. “They were not even running or trying to hide… they just walked,� Nkunzana said.

Tunzana claims that he cannot really remember what happened but acknowledges he shot people.
“I remember at one of the shops the amagrigamba tried to shoot me but their guns jammed. They ran away and I shot at them, but they did not die,� said Tunzana.

Now, in prison, Tuzana’s feelings about his crimes are ambiguous despite his conversion to Islam.
At times during the interviews he would claim not to have hated his victims but he still referred to them using the derogatory amagrigamba term.

At first he blamed alcohol and evil spirits for his attacks on the Somalis, but in a later interview he admitted he killed because of greed and because he thought he could get away with it because they were foreigners.
“All we wanted was more money for us and it was easy to get it from their shops and do whatever we wanted. I had also managed to avoid police for a long time so I believed that there was no way we could be arrested because these were just amagrigamba,� said Tunzana.

Tunzana said also his new faith Islam had compelled him to tell the truth.

“According to Islam one must confess all his sins and tell the truth. It was right for me to confess to the killings and for God to forgive me. If I had taken up Islam before I would not have robbed and killed my brothers. I hope for forgiveness now,� Tunzana said.

But Abdullahi Adbi Sheikh, the brother of one victim, Mahamud Abdi Mohammed, is not convinced that Tunzana has changed and does not think he can forgive him anytime soon.

“I am a Muslim, after all the pain one goes through we are expected to give out our hand to the person who did us wrong. But for me I cannot forgive anybody, God forgives,� said Abdullahi.

by THANDUXOLO JIKA, A project made possible thanks to the Taco Kuiper Fund for Investigative Journalism at Wits University